


those who recline on beds of ivory

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Series: and love will be your teacher [18]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Conspiracy, Don’t really know what else to tag, Drabble, Gen, Plot, ozai is losing iiiiiit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: Meanwhile, in the fire nation.....
Series: and love will be your teacher [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1511504
Comments: 67
Kudos: 1253
Collections: Finished111





	those who recline on beds of ivory

**Author's Note:**

> We be on hiatus after this one ;-;

The Fire Nation was at war once again. This didn’t escape her citizen's notice. Some said it was awfully convenient, Iroh's death, Zuko's madness, all leading up to Ozai's coming into power and the restart of the war. But that was all it was, idle speculation. Whenever a ruler died before it was their time, whispers of assassination always circulated. Anyone who took the rumors seriously were waved off with a knowing chuckle.

After all, Ozai had been crowned Fire Lord, but he had stated himself that he was merely a regent until the young prince came into age and the madness that stemmed from his grief had been cured.

Everything about the situation was acceptable, until the mad prince forcefully took his leave from the capitol. Ozai issued another proclamation, the prince had escaped from the palace. He had nearly burnt down his room in his escape, and hurt the doctors tending to him.

Again, no one knows who exactly in the palace told the truth, someone vaguely remembered it was a solider with a broken nose, but even that detail was debatable. All that mattered was that soldiers who had been there whispered that the Fire Lord was lying. Prince Zuko had escaped from a prison, not a bedchamber for the sick. And that the Princess herself had broken him out.

No one had seen hide nor hair of Princess Azula since that day. She had not even made a public appearance with her father. In fact, it was considered undeniable proof that there was some truth to the story when Princess Azula failed to appear at Ozai's side when he officially pronounced a search for the young mad prince.

The rumors spread out from the capitol to the countryside. Ozai loyalists scoffed, Ozai was, they said, the true heir of Azulon. Fire Lord Iroh had gone against everything Azulon had ever built, but Ozai, Ozai was continuing his legacy. Zuko loyalists pointed out that it did not matter what Ozai was doing, Azulon's bright young grandson, skilled and fearless and far more popular than Ozai had been was conveniently gone.

Missing posters for Prince Zuko cropped up. Missing posters for a boy with a mutilated eye. The capitol was consumed in an uproar. Ozai said, in his madness, the boy had mutilated himself. Anyone who was experienced with burns, which was commonplace in the fire nation, knew how suspicious the burn looked. Almost like a hand had cupped the Prince's face and burnt away his flesh. But that was treasonous.

Only one healer was brave enough to point out that particular detail.

She found dead in her own home a few weeks later. Killed herself, they all said. How convenient, absolutely no one dared to whisper, at least not in public for others to hear.

Rumors began to circulate behind closed doors and closed doors alone. The crown prince had been spotted on ember island with the princess, the crown prince had been seen in the earth kingdom, the crown prince was planning to overthrow his father.

A few royal families who had been especially vocal about certain suspicious actions from Ozai were imprisoned for conspiracy to commit treason.

Still, the rumor mill could not be stopped. No one knew who kept perpetuating it. Well, there were certain high ranking persons suspected of dissent, but everyone's guesses were all very far off.

After all, who could surmise that what was slowly driving the new Fire Lord to madness and the Fire Nation to civil war were old men who played pai sho? Old men who listened, who watched, and who carefully made suggestions here and there that chipped away at the lies in search of the truth.

Fire Lord Ozai seethed, paranoid, terrified, and furious, trying to quell vicious gossip and counter every disturbingly truthful rumor with an explanation of his own. He felt as if he were playing pai sho, and losing to some relentless unknown attacker. An attacker he saw round every corner, staring back at him out of the face of every general, even out of the faces of his missing children- sucking in betrayal with every breath he drew, choking on his own fire at every war meeting.

(Ozai couldn’t know he was, in a sense, playing pai sho with a master. Iroh, who met each and every one of Ozai's desperate moves with a carefully calculated countermove of his own. Ozai had started a war and unbeknownst to him, his brother and his son would very well finish it for him.) 


End file.
